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Math Club reforms extra help training sessions
Misha Ivkov (11), co-Vice President of Math Club, and Allison Wang (12), President of Math Club, work on a problem together. The Math Club recently reformed its club lectures program to be more structured and occur more regularly.
January 18, 2016
The Math Club recently reformed its extra help training program to become more standardized and easier to access for new members.
“We are basically trying to teach some classes, we being the officers, to help people improve their math contest skills,” club President Allison Wang (12) said. “It happens roughly weekly and involves both some lecture and some practice problems.”
The club has offered training services for a while, but the reformation has expanded the scope of the lectures.
“There were classes before, but they were restricted to more difficult math levels,” co-Vice President Kai-Siang Ang (11) said. “So, we made it easier to include more people.”
This reformed program trains students in the main four areas of math competitions: algebra, number theory, combinatorics and geometry.
There are two separate classes corresponding to different difficulty levels; scoring high marks on one competition qualifies participants for another more difficult one.
“Class one is focused on preparing for AMC [American Mathematics Competition] 10/12 qualification for AIME [American Invitational Math Exam],” co-Vice President Misha Ivkov (11) said. “The other class is focused on preparing students for AIME, which leads to qualification for the USA Math Olympiad and Junior Math Olympiad.”
These sessions will be held during extra help once a week unless special schedules interfere.
“The goal was once a week, but special schedules get in the way so it’s more like once every two weeks,” Kai said.
Club attendee Joanna Lin (10) believes that these reforms will help more people become involved in math competitions.
“Before, you would have to practice on your own and do the contests they provide,” Joanna said. “I think this is much more structured and it will help a lot more people.”
The Math Club has seen great success in competitions in the past. Members have participated in all levels of competition spanning from the AMCs to the USA Math Olympiad.
“Interstellar [an online math competition] is something we’ve done for the past three years,” Kai said. “All three years, including this year, we’ve gotten first place out of its tournament of 64 teams.”
The club looks forward to upcoming competitions.
“AMCs are next month. We have also some out-of-school contests,” Allison said. “There’s one in mid-February called A-Star math tournament, and another one in March called the Berkeley math tournament.”
Joanna explained some of the thrills of competing in these sorts of competitions.
“It kind of gives you an adrenaline rush,” Joanna said. “There’s a lot of other stuff that you learn, different branches of math that aren’t covered in school, and you get to hang out with your friends too.”
The AMC 10/12 form A contest will take place on Feb. 2.
